Happier Bride

Recently I came in contact with the author of Happier Bride, A Guide to Happiness and Planning your Wedding, Minna Sithep. 

She is one talented gal and so when she offered to send me a copy of her book to review, I was thrilled! It came at the most perfect timing because just a week earlier my sister got engaged and asked me to be her Maid of Honor! 

The timing could not have been better! For the past month, my sister, Sandy has been reading this book and taking notes. Minna has wonderful ideas in her book and it truly makes planning a wedding a stress free and enjoyable experience! 

Here are just some of our favorite things about the book:

The beginning of every chapter starts with a happier principle.

Minna stresses the importance of taking care of the bride mentally and physically. This is important because it is the first step in becoming a happy bride! 

The book gives a realistic timeline of planning each step of the wedding.

Minna helps to break down each task step by step and gives you an idea of when the task should be started. This helps to  not feel so overwhelmed with so many tasks all at once.  Wedding planning can become very overwhelming very quickly, but this book helps to take that overwhelming feeling away!

The book gives a variety of options.

Minna stresses originality but also explains the traditional side of weddings as well. For example, in the section about the wedding cake, Minna explains, "A traditional wedding cake is white, three tiered cake and inspired by the look of a wedding gown". She then continues with other options that might fit your personal style better. For example, "You could also replace the cake all together. Substitute in your favorite dessert instead. Have pretty decorated cupcakes and display in a tower as an 'ode' to the traditional tiered cake." This is just one of many wonderful examples Minna shares. 

Happier Bride gives detailed help, instruction and guidance. 

My sister found every answer she needed in this book. She has kept it with her and uses it as a resource with each step of her wedding plans. One of my sister's favorite parts of the book that helped her the most was how Minna suggested to narrow down the guest list. For the past month, Sandy has been quoting this book and it has been awesome to see first hand how helpful it is! 

And here is the Happiest Bride to be! 

Thank you Minna for helping Sandy plan her wedding in a fun and easy way! 

Your book is wonderful and we can not sing it enough praises! 

Happier Bride book is available on Amazon HERE 

and

Check out the Happier Bride website HERE 

This is the perfect book for Brides to be, and a perfect gift to give to the Bride to be! 

New Items will be featured at the Boutique

 All these new Little Penelope Lane items and so much more will be at the Penelope Lane Boutique tomorrow! Saturday March 23rd from 9-3 at the Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach. The lobby, ballroom and patio will be filled with vendors and all thing crafty! Come on by! Take a photo in the photo booth! Make it a girls day out! Hope to see you tomorrow!! 

How We Weekend

boardwalk.

beach.

wheels.

sunset.

family fun!

Choose Joy Event

Last Saturday I attended the "Choose Joy" Event that the fabulous Emmy hosted! 

Last Summer she told me that she wanted to do this conference and I told her that I really wanted to go. When the tickets went on sale, I think I was the first one that bought a ticket because I was that excited! I knew anything that involved Emmy was sure to be a special day. This girl has a huge heart and a beautiful spirit. She had a vision for what the day would be and boy did she turn that vision into a reality! It is hard to come up with words for how special the day was! 

I went with my dear friend Tracy. It was such a treat for me to spend the day with her. She is such a gift in my life. It was extra special to run into more friends once we got there! So fun to sit and chat with Meagan and Kristin and not have a boutique going on at the same time. I loved visiting with them and connecting on a different level.

 One thing that was extra special about the event is that we all had a story, a story that connected us all. There was an instant bond in that room. 

Everything from the food to the decor to the swag bag was pure perfection! 

Emmy did such an amazing job! 

The day was full of amazing speakers who had incredible stories of hope and faith to share. We even had a fun craft and social hour where we made "Choose Joy" hoops! The day flew by and all of a sudden it was over!

The event "Choose Joy" focused on infertility and adoption. I have so many good days, but I still will have days that I mourn the loss of not being able to have more children. This year was especially hard because every one of my sister in laws on my husband's side had a baby. Four babies in just a few months. The last time that happened, I was in that mix. We all had our baby boys together. Although I rejoiced for the new babies, there was still an ache in my heart wishing I could have had a baby too. The "Choose Joy" event was full of stories like this and I felt lifted up hearing what these women would do when their heart would ache on that level. Each of them had the same answer. They turned to Him. They gave it all to Christ and He took the pain from them and opened a new door or a new chapter in their life. It was such a testimony builder to hear these women of faith share their stories.

On Saturday I left feeling like I was not alone. I left with more hope and more options for the future. I left with my cup running over and feeling so blessed for the three miracles that I do have.

I left feeling JOY.

Power of Moms Retreat

Last weekend I had an amazing opportunity to attend my first Power of Moms retreat. It was held in a gorgeous home in Pasadena. The day was packed full of learning, sharing, reflecting, building new friendships, laughter and fun! For years I have read wonderful articles on the Power of Moms and learned new ideas from the website, but to actually be at a retreat learning first hand from the women who started it all, was incredible!  

It was great to attend the day with my dear friend Sally. She is such a good friend and I loved spending the day with her. Now that she is a new mom, I was so excited for her (and a little jealous) that she learned all of these great ideas so early in her Mothering life!

April  has a gift. She has truly been inspired to create these programs to help mothers become more organized and happy. She did an amazing job presenting and teaching. I am a changed mother today because of her gift of sharing her ideas, systems and knowledge!

We started the morning learning about Mind Organization for Moms.

I wish I had learned this system on how to organize my entire life and the life of my family years ago! This program is amazing! April taught us an amazing approach to organizing all of our papers, all of the papers the children bring home from school (endless), mail, e-mail as well as how to organize our thoughts and ideas and then make them a reality!

 When I say Life Changing, I mean it! 

I could not believe how amazing this process is! 

As I started implementing these ideas into my life and family this week it truly did bring less stress and more joy! Thank you April!!! 

After the morning session we had a wonderful lunch provided by Panera Bread!

 

At lunch we had a chance to mingle and chat with new friends!

Emmy, Christy, and Merrick

Rachel is such a sweet friend! She moved here to California not too long ago and has gotten so involved in the blogging and boutique world. She jumped right in and is such a support to all of us! She is always giving the best shout outs, is great to share and attend events as well. It was fun to see her again at the Power of Moms retreat! 

 

After lunch, it was time for the "Taking Care of the Person inside the Mom" session. We discussed taking care of ourselves emotionally, spiritually, socially, physically, mentally, etc. Heather (seen above) taught the lesson about taking care of ourselves physically....

She had us get up and do squats! She was such a fun teacher! I wish she lived closer as I would love to attend one of her exercise classes!

 

April had asked me to share a few thoughts during the retreat. I spoke two times. First about Warrior Mothers and second about some fun ways to be social as a mom. 

April's oldest daughter Alia is such a gem and helps her mom out so much with Power of Moms. Here she is selling the new Power of Moms book called Deliberate Motherhood. 

 

Tiffany and Allyson 

I loved meeting some of the Power of Moms board members in real life.

  These two gals flew from Utah and were both awesome speakers and also taught us so much through out the day. They are both just a few years ahead of me in parenting and I loved getting ideas on Mothering pre-teen and teenage children. 

above: Board members from the Power of Moms. 

We learned so much from these ladies all day long! 

In the evening we learned about family culture and family economics. I wish we could have spent another full day learning and discussing these ideas. I learned great ideas on how to teach my children responsibility, allowance and how to manage money. 

During this session I kept saying to myself: "I wish Bryant was here so he could learn this too and then together we could teach this to our children!"

Well, I was so excited to hear that they will be teaching and discussing more about this topic at the upcoming couples retreat in Orange County! Bryant and I are attending and we look forward to learning these tools together! I came home from the retreat talking a mile a minute and he was really excited and on board to help me put these new ideas to use. P.S. There is only room for 30 couples, so if you are interested in going, reserve your spot soon! I can not express enough how thankful you will be that you attended! 

What a fabulous day the retreat was. It was wonderful to take a step back and reflect on my role as Mother. I loved having a chance to learn new ideas to make my role more enjoyable and easier. I am so thankful that April turned her vision of helping Mothers all over the world into a reality!